World Innovations and Food Connections at SIAL 2012

The 25th edition of SIAL, “The Global Food Marketplace” is scheduled for October 21-25, 2012 at the Paris-Nord Exhibition Center in Paris, France. The world’s number one food exhibition in 2012 will bring together 6,000 exhibitors from 100 countries on SIAL’s massive exhibition space that covers over 2 million square feet organized into 19 show sectors and eight halls. SIAL is an ever increasingly global exhibition; international visitors comprise 62% of the 136,000 total attendees and they come from close to every country on earth, some 200 in total. France still ranks the top visitor country while Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, U.K., Spain, Germany, USA, Canada and Russia follow respectively in number of visitors represented at the show. For the 2012 edition, the overall concept of the show is “Food Connections” with efforts being focused on highlighting exhibitors, improving accessibility for visitors and presenting a renewed exhibition in a festive and convivial environment. SIAL Director, Olivia Milan-Grosbois, explains, “We want SIAL 2012 to be more than an exhibition, to be a real space for discussion and discovery, business and pleasure.” In order to optimize the attendee experience, the show will introduce better access to all eight halls, improved signage, increased reception and resting areas, information desks by theme and more. With innovation being a vital element of SIAL, the SIAL Innovation Awards and the SIAL d’Or Awards will once again take center stage at the show. These two product competitions will highlight the abundant food and beverage innovations offered by manufacturers across the globe, both inside and outside of the exhibition. SIAL Innovation will receive 1,000 exhibitor product entries and, from those, 400 will be selected for the contest and displayed in the special Innovation Area at SIAL. From that selection, 15 products will be awarded prizes. This year, Intermarché, a leading independent grocery chain in France, will select its own 10-15 products from the SIAL Innovation participants and these will be marketed in over 1,000 Intermarché stores across France. This in-store operation will coincide with SIAL so that winning exhibitors will see their products on Intermarche shelves from October 23-27. The SIAL d’Or competition rewards products that have been commercial successes in the 30 national markets represented in the contest. Category and country winners are awarded as well as one Global SIAL d’Or grand prize that will be announced during the show. For the first time in 2012 these innovation contests will be held jointly on the show floor thus providing an extensive overview of global innovation. Following its success from the past three editions, the Wines sector will return to the show in Hall 8 along with Organic/Health Products and Gourmet Foods. In 2010, the 225 exhibitors in the wine sector attracted 17,000 visitors who noted an interest in wine. In addition to exhibitors’ offerings, the Wine Innovation Forum will feature conferences by major international brands and stakeholders in the wine industry around the general theme of responding to the challenges of the future. The SIAL 2012 Wine sector program will focus on ways to develop export market share and provide exhibitors an opportunity to meet multi-sector buyers. This area of the show will offer analysis on the worldwide wine market and key information on entering the market and acquiring new consumers. The Best Buy awards will again showcase wines that offer a particularly attractive price/quality ratio. La Cuisine by SIAL will return in 2012 and become the central reception area for foodservice professionals with a cooking demonstration area, a showroom featuring gourmet and foodservice products and a bookstore. For the first time, La Cuisine by SIAL will also feature a special VIP restaurant where renowned chefs will prepare exhibitors’ products in an open kitchen providing a special experience for visitors. There will also be added services before and during the exhibition to help prepare and optimize visits and customized tools to discover foodservice products being exhibited at the show. The main USA Pavilion will be the largest USA Pavilion at the show to date, occupying 20,075 square feet at the front of Hall 4 and presenting 90 participating companies. The USA Pavilion in Hall 6 covers 8,145 square feet with 20 exhibiting companies. WUSATA, SUSTA, NASFT and the Illinois and Florida Departments of Agriculture are planning group events in the Pavilions. The USA Pavilions will host 18 exhibitors who will be participating in SIAL for the first time. SIAL only admits food industry professionals and is exclusively devoted to food and beverage products, serving the needs of all market segments including large-scale distribution, import-export, wholesale distribution, specialty retail, foodservice as well as food manufacturing. Produced by Paris-based Comexposium, the #1 trade show organizer in France, SIAL is the largest of the five SIAL food and beverage exhibitions organized in the world on five different continents. The latest addition to the SIAL network is SIAL Brazil which will take place for the first time June 25-28, 2012 in São Paulo, Brazil.